The village of Tejuco had its name changed to Diamantina in the XIX century due to the great amount of diamonds found there.

Two important characters of Brazilian history lived there: President Juscelino Kubitscheck (who built the new capital, Brasília, in 1960) and Xica da Silva, a slave who became sort of a queen in the XVIII century.

Xica's second master, Priest Rolim, sold her to João Fernandes, a mine owner and one of the richest persons of Colonial Brazil. They started a romance and she was freed by him. They lived together for several years, had 13 children and their relationship was a scandal in the colonial society.

The local community banned Xica from entry into their church (in Brazil, people of African descent were not allowed to attend churches, reserved only for whites). To show the locals Xica`s power, João Fernandes built a church attended just by herself…

She also had slaves, and became a quite vindictive person. Legend tells her husband once commented one of her slaves had a beautiful smile - and she didn’t hesitate to break all the girl’s teeth.

Even after the departure of João (to Portugal), Xica remained with her prestige. She was a member of brotherhoods exclusive to white people, to brotherhoods exclusive to mulattoes and to those exclusive to Africans...  Xica da Silva died in 1796, being buried at the Church of São Francisco de Assis, a privilege reserved only for white rich people.